Hacker News Reader

Comment by Clewza313 | Hacker News Reader

I suspect most greens eaten worldwide fall within the same taxa as those described in the article. For example, the Chinese eat a vast variety of cabbage/mustardy plants, but botanically they're all Brassica rapa.

View on HN

While Brassica may be the most eaten by mass, there's a variety of other leafs mentioned in the article.

The phylogenetic tree show it.

https://botanistinthekitchen.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/201...

Spinach is the biggest exception i can think of - _Spinacia oleracea_, in the Caryophyllales, a different order to the Brassicales.

I don't think Indian cooking uses a lot of brassicas as greens. Lots of spinach, plus amaranth, also a Caryophyllale, and fenugreek/methi, a Fabale. Mustard leaf is a brassica, though.

I feel like (at least modern) Indian cooking uses quite a bit of cauliflower and broccoli

Cauliflower even in older Indian cooking; see my sibling comment to yours. Broccoli is newer in India, AFAIK.

Cauliflower is even ...

Not broccoli

Cabbage is a brassica, right? Indians eat lots of cabbage, north to south. And a lot of cauliflower, also a brassica. Alu gobhi (a dry veg dish of potato and cauliflower) is a dish famous even in the West. I read somewhere that Bryan Adams enjoyed it on an India tour, some years ago. I don't like it much, personally (but don't dislike it either).

All true. But cauliflower isn't a green!

Sorry for late reply. (HN really should have a notification system for replies to comments.)

Not a botanist, but I think it may be considered as a green for practical purposes. Looked up Wikipedia. Technically the edible part is a flower or such. But is sold in greengrocer* shops alongside other greens of all sorts.

*British term, produce shops may be the US eqiivalent.

Malabar spinach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basella_alba which is a vine.

Just learned about this one today. Purslane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulaca_oleracea

There are actually a lot of less commonly known greens that are in exotic taxa with few or no other eaten relatives. Strawberry spinach, for example

I'm sure there are exceptions, but I'm talking about most. If there's a country/region with commonly eaten vegetables/greens that fall outside the article's listings, I'd be keen to hear about it.

I think this has more to do with modernity and monoculture than it does with the types of greens a culture originally ate; usually the left behind greens are less tasty, more ... strongly flavoured, and harder to grow. IIRC small areas of japan have odd greens eaten as a customary thing, whether they make up a majority of foodstuffs i cant say. I believe greens were usually eaten only sparingly historically rather than the salad heavy diets pursued today. (lots of scary stuff on unwashed, uncooked greens)

The author mentions this, and expresses curiosity about what greens are eaten by peoples who had little to no contact with people from Eurasia (these may well be very different).

True, also in the comment someone introduces some ... more novel varieties of greens and the author talks about how many are outside of her tree.

Fern fronds and young stinging nettle come to mind in some local places that serve local seasonal foods.

They aren't bad, per se, but have a very short season and are really more of a "winter stores have run low and too early to harvest anything, but I am really hungry..." situation.

Where does seaweed fit in here?

In Turkey, we eat grape leaves as well. Do they fall into same category?

Edit: The article seems to refer that grape leaves are edible but it also says that grape leaves were not included in this article on purpose.

They're common in a lot of greek recipes also, but I think they didn't count in this article because they're used as wrappings rather than a pile of leaves like lettuce. I could be completely wrong, but I've never seen them just eaten, always as a functional part of a recipe.

It happens, but not often. You can use grape leaves in salads, and even in pesto. I've also used them dried and crumbled as an accent. They've got a tannic bite that contrasts well with mild flavors like rice and soft cheeses.

Even so, you usually don't base a whole dish around them the way you can with other leafy greens. The tannic bite easily becomes too much.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com